BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02186 ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 2009 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME FRIGID COLD NEW YEAR'S DAY WEATHER TEMPERATURES DROP TO NEAR ZERO WITH GUSTY WEST TO WEST-NORTHWEST WINDS BRINGING WINDCHILLS -10F TO -20F DECEMBER 2008 WAS THIRD WETTEST AND FOURTH SNOWIEST ON RECORD We've experienced very cold New Year's Eves in past years but the combination of six to eight inches of snow on the ground being blown around by very gusty winds and temperatures dropping to the single numbers may have made it one for the record books, at least in recent memory. As the thermometer plunged to 5F by midnight the west-northwest winds were averaging 29 gusting to 44 MPH. A peak gust to 54 MPH WNW occurred earlier during the evening. Windchill temperatures dropped to -10F to -20F. New Year's Day, despite bright sunshine, had a high reading of just 16F and low of 1F making the day 18 degrees colder than average. The mean temperature of 9F was coldest since 7F on 1/3/2008 while the minimum of 1F was coldest since 3/9/2007. DECEMBER 2008 STATS Mean temp: 32.8F [+1.6] Mean corr. to 24 hours: 33.2F High: 61F on 12th,15th Low: 5F on 31st Total heating units: 990 [-50] Seasonal total: 2240 [-89] Precipitation: 9.16 ins. [+4.60] Snowfall: 30.4 ins. [+19.7] Greatest depth on ground at 7 a.m.: 15 ins. on 22nd Sunshine: 6570 astronomical minutes or 109.5 hours or 39% Sunshine: 6363 Campbell Stokes card minutes or 106.1 hours or 39% Av. wind speed uncorrected: 16.5 MPH Av. wind speed corrected: 16.7 MPH Prevailing wind direction: W at 23% Highest December Precipitation (inches) 1) 12.60 in 1969 2) 9.80 in 1992 3) 9.16 in 2008 4) 9.01 in 1936 5) 8.31 in 1996 Highest December Snowfall (inches) 1) 45.2 in 1945 2) 39.5 in 1947 3) 32.0 in 1902 4) 30.4 in 2008 5) 29.7 in 2003, 2007 7 A.M. Weather: High overcast cirrostratus few altocumulus, breaks in the overcast distant NE-SE Temperature: 11F, Dew point: -2F, Wind: S at 8 kts Sea-level pressure: 30.03 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 30 miles, 50 miles above inversion WNW 6-hour minimum temperature: 9F 24-hour precipitation: 0.00 inch 24-hour snowfall: 0.0 inch Snow on ground: 6 in. BHO SA 1155 E250 OVC 30 170/11/-2/1809/003/ FEW AC BINOVC DSNT NE-SE LGT HZ VSBY 50 ABV INVSN WNW/ 8/046 4/006 56019 ASOS 70087 MANUAL 70000 10011 20009 ASOS PRECIP ERROR INOP 10 A.M. Weather: Overcast altostratus, sun dimly visible Temperature: 20F, Dew point: 6F, Wind: S at 12 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.97 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 35 miles, 50 miles WNW BHO SA 1455 E160 OVC 35 149/20/6/1812/997/ SUN DMLY VSB VSBY WNW 50 LGT HZ/ 8/01/ 58021 1 P.M. Weather: Overcast altostratus Temperature: 28F, Dew point: 19F, Wind: S at 16G23 kts, Sea-level pressure: 29.82 inches Hg, falling Visibility: 30 miles, hazy, and increasing haze 6-hour max. temp: 28F BHO SA 1755 E70 OVC 30 097/28/19/1816G23/982/ HAZY HZ INCRSNG/ 8/02/ 58052 10028 20011 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 1 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....16 NORMAL.....35 MIN......1 NORMAL.....19 MEAN.... 9 NORMAL.....27 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL..............-18 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH..............-18 HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY.............56 DEPARTURE........+18 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH............ 56 DEPARTURE........+18 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON..........2296 DEPARTURE........-71 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE.....2199 DIFFERENCE.......+97 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY............44 WNW AT 12:22 P.M. * AEROVANE.............44 WNW AT 12:22 P.M. ASOS.................43 WNW AT 12:23 P.M. DAVIS................40 W AT 12:22 P.M. FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY..............30 WNW AT 12:23 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE...........N/A MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE..........29 WNW AT 12:29 A.M. AVERAGE........... 20.4 W ASOS...............18.8 DAVIS..............18.7 W [280 deg] * Last of several occurrences… PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.....0.00 DEPARTURE.........+0.58 ASOS...............0.87 * TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR DECEMBER............9.16 DEPARTURE.........+4.60 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR JANUARY.............trace DEPARTURE.........-0.15 ASOS (DEC).........9.15 # TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR (2008)....59.45 DEPARTURE.........+8.23 ASOS..............62.16 ## * Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 12/31/08 and 1/1/09. # Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on several dates during December 2008. ## Includes erroneous ASOS precipitation data on 2/13/08 and several dates during December 2008. SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M..........0.0 DEPARTURE.... -0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR DECEMBER................30.4 DEPARTURE....+19.7 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR JANUARY.................trace DEPARTURE.....-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON..............30.4 DEPARTURE....+16.3 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR DECEMBER 2008 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SNOW/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane recording wind system gust when significant TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 12/1 59/43/51/+15/0.12/0.0/374/67 43 SSW 12/2 47/32/40/+4/0.00/0.0/451/81 33 SSW 12/3 44/29/37/+2/0.00/0.0/556/100 24 SSW 12/4 53/33/43/+8/T/0.0/122/22 42 SSW Aero 43 MPH S 12/5 38/26/32/-3/0.00/0.0/404/73 26 WNW 12/6 37/23/30/-4/0.00/0.0/309/56 21 S 12/7 32/20/26/-8/0.12/1.6/000/00 54 W Aero 53 MPH W 12/8 21/10/16/-17/0.00/0.0/462/84 50 W Aero 50 MPH W 12/9 53/13/33/0/0.01/T/000/00 48 S Aero 50 MPH S 12/10 60/37/49/+16/0.43/0.0/000/00 55 S Aero 58 MPH S 12/11 37/34/36/+4/1.52/T/000/00 38 NNE Aero 35 MPH NNE 12/12 61/28/45/+13/2.32/0.0/088/16 75 SSE Aero 76 MPH SSE 12/13 28/17/23/-9/0.00/0.0/531/97 33 W 12/14 43/17/30/-1/0.00/0.0/328/60 36 S 12/15 61/43/52/+21/0.00/0.0/076/15 55 S Aero 56 MPH S 12/16 57/26/42/+11/0.14/T/000/00 43 W 12/17 38/25/32/+1/0.46/1.2/000/00 26 E Aero 22 MPH E 12/18 37/28/33/+3/0.00/0.0/261/48 23 WSW 12/19 29/14/22/-8/1.28/8.0/000/00 46 NE Aero 45 MPH NE 12/20 20/11/16/-14/0.35/4.5/000/00 30 NNW 12/21 33/17/25/-5/0.97/7.2/000/00 43 W Aero 44 MPH W 12/22 22/12/17/-12/0.00/0.0/544/100 47 W Aero 45 MPH W 12/23 27/9/18/-11/0.00/0.0/463/85 30 W 12/24 50/23/37/+8/0.23/T/000/00 53 S 12/25 52/27/40/+11/0.08/0.0/518/95 54 W Aero 54 MPH W 12/26 35/23/29/+1/0.00/0.0/311/57 25 SE 12/27 47/33/40/+12/0.37/0.0/000/00 37 S 12/28 58/41/50/+22/0.0/0.0/000/00 43 SW 12/29 42/29/36/+8/0.0/0.0/257/47 39 W 12/30 36/23/30/+2/0.03/0.4/515/94 60 W Aero 58 MPH W 12/31 24/5/15/-12/0.73/7.5/000/00 54 WNW JANUARY 2009 1/1 16/1/9/-18/T/T/.../.. 44 WNW Aero 44 MPH WNW 1/2 morning low temp: 9F; our normal low is now 19F NEW DAILY RECORDS FOR DECEMBER 2008... 12/12 PEAK GUST 75 MPH SSE; PREVIOUS 74 MPH W IN 2000 12/28 RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 41; PREVIOUS 39 IN 1907 12/31 RECORD DAILY SNOWFALL 7.5 INCHES; PREVIOUS 6.0 IN 1886 DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2 HIGH 62F IN 1890 LOW -7F IN 1899,1918 PRECIP 2.10 INS. IN 1987 SNOWFALL 9.0 INS. IN 1904 PEAK GUST 85e MPH S IN 1942 RECORDS FOR JANUARY 3 HIGH 64F IN 2000 LOW -4F IN 1904 PRECIP 1.93 INS. IN 1999 SNOW 11.3 INS. 1996 WIND 92 MPH S IN 1960 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED By: Robert Skilling